McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

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  • Oklahoma State Penitentiary death row inmate Gary Roland Welch, 49, prepares to read from a four-page written statement Monday during his clemency hearing. Welch attended the hearing via video tele-conference from OSP. Welch was denied clemency. Photo by Rachel Petersen

    Welch clemency.JPG

  • On Saturday, a State of Oklahoma Department of Corrections van is parked outside of the McAlester Regional Health Center Emergency room, where Oklahoma State Penitentiary death row inmate Gary Roland Welch is being treated for self-inflicted cuts to his neck and is listed in critical condition. Photo by Rachel Petersen

    Welch Suicide.JPG

  • Oklahoma State Penitentiary’s death chamber is located on the second floor of H-unt. The last inmate to be executed here was Jeffrey David Matthews. The next scheduled execution, for death row inmate Gary R. Welch, is set for Jan. 5, 2012. Photo by Rachel Petersen

    OSP death chamber.JPG

  • Gary Roland Welch

    Gary Roland Welch
December 19, 2011

Death row inmate returns to OSP from MRHC

By Rachel Petersen Staff Writer

McALESTER — Death row inmate Gary Roland Welch, 49, returned to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Sunday after being released from the McAlester Regional Health Center. Late Friday evening, officers at OSP found Welch in his single cell with self-inflicted cut wounds to his neck.

“He came home yesterday,” OSP Warden Randy Workman told the News-Capital Monday morning. “And he’s doing fine. He’s in stable condition and he’s eating and talking and showed some remorse.”

Welch, who is scheduled to be executed Jan. 5, was recently denied clemency by a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

“He’s at the prison’s infirmary unit,” Crenshaw said. “He’ll be monitored 24 hours a day and he will continue to be monitored up until his execution.”

Welch received his death sentence in 1996 after he was found guilty of the Aug. 25, 1994, murder of 35-year-old Robert Dean Hardcastle.

Welch has continued to maintain that his killing of Hardcaslte was in self-defense. However, Welch’s death sentence has been upheld by all courts, as all of his appeals have been denied.

If his execution is carried out as scheduled, Welch will be the first death row inmate in the United States to be executed in the year 2012.



Contact Rachel Petersen at rpetersen@mcalesternews.com.

 

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